WWF: Doha not a process COP - Parties must deliver finance and ambition

Doha, Qatar – There is a danger that low expectations for COP18 will sink even lower as negotiators hint at claiming “success” for mainly process issue only.

According to Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative, there is a sense among negotiators that Doha’s main mission is only procedural, with success measured by how much the talks move the COP process forward.

“There is a real danger that COP18 will not deliver anything that will substantially reduce the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. As one negotiator told me just yesterday with three days of meetings left, ‘there is little progress. And I am afraid.’ ”

“This can’t be a process COP. We need substance commitments on mitigation and finance”, she says.

“And we won’t accept any such excuses from the leaders at the end of this meeting. There have been several landmark science-based reports issued in the last month that tell us we don’t have time to ignore the fact that climate change is happening and happening faster than predicted, and that the effects will impact all of us in different but severe ways,” she says.

If Parties are to be real about keeping the world from not warming more than two degrees, then we need three things, she says.

“Firstly ensure environmental integrity by strengthening the existing rules. Secondly, increase mitigation ambition across the board, led by developed countries whose current targets are now little different than business as usual, and followed by developing countries, especially those who have as yet not made any voluntary mitigation pledges.

Finally, she says, to support actions in developing countries and build trust, WWF is calling on Parties to commit to doubling current finance levels to deliver at least $60 billion in total in public funds over the next three years, as part of a road map for scaling up from current levels to at least $100b per year in 2020.

“These funds must be invested in ways that leverage and mobilize much greater private sector investments in a low carbon climate resilient economy.”

The outcomes at Doha will have real impacts on the world’s climate, our communities, our health, our food security and supply for generations to come, says Smith.

”Endless process discussions are not going to deliver what we really need to address climate change what we need is increase in emissions cuts and making good on promises of finance for transforming economies to a low carbon path.”

ends

For more information please contact

Mandy Jean Woodsmwoods@wwf.org.za / +27 82 553 4211 (please send SMS if urgent) @MandyJeanWoodsSamantha Smithssmith@wwf.org.no / @pandaclimateTasneem Essoptesseop@wwf.org.za / @TasneemEssop
About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.